We razed 24 villages”: Israel Katz claims the destruction of South Lebanon, Francesca Albanese calls for an arrest warrant

On Twitter, Francesca Albanese, UN special rapporteur for the occupied Palestinian territories, called for the rapid issuance of an arrest warrant against Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz, whom she describes as a “self-proclaimed war criminal.” In an interview with an Israeli political commentator’s podcast, Katz openly claimed responsibility for the mass destruction of southern Lebanon:

“I said that South Lebanon would become like Gaza, that we would apply the Rafah model, that we would destroy everything there and that we would treat them exactly the same way. And that’s precisely what we did. » He added that infrastructure had been destroyed and houses in 24 border villages, some centuries old, had been razed.

According to its own statements, the Israeli army systematically destroyed these villages using bulldozers and explosives: “90% of the houses disappeared and between 15,000 and 20,000 homes were destroyed. » For Francesca Albanese, the more Israeli leaders escape justice, the more the international system supposed to protect populations is irreparably destroyed.

Israel Katz, Israeli Defense Minister, takes responsibility for his crimes: “I said that South Lebanon would become Gaza. We would apply the Rafah model. We would destroy everything. We would deal with them exactly this way. And that’s what we did.” pic.twitter.com/Jk3kP4k5ax

— Oumma.com (@oumma) July 13, 2026